WSDOT performance report analyzes agency-wide retirement trends

Gray Notebook also tracks social media reach, environmental efforts

OLYMPIA – A retirement tsunami is on its way, and when the “gray wave” hits the Washington State Department of Transportation in the next few years it stands to take away hundreds of current employees.

Up to 42 percent of the agency’s workforce may retire by the year 2022, based on the number of employees who will be eligible for partial or full benefits by that year. Of these, 20 percent will be eligible for full retirement by 2022 and are considered probable to retire. Both outlooks highlight the need for increased outreach to potential employees to ensure the agency is staffed to meet the needs of the traveling public, according analyses in WSDOT’s latest quarterly performance report, the Gray Notebook (pdf 5.26 mb).

The publication, which summarizes the quarter that ended March 31, also includes annual articles on active transportation, travel information and wetlands-protection efforts. Highlights include:

People walking or bicycling accounted for 22 percent of all statewide traffic fatalities in 2017.

The number of @wsdot_traffic Twitter followers increased 37.5 percent from about 330,000 to more than 452,000 between in April 2017 and March 2018.

WSDOT added six new wetlands- and stream-mitigation sites on 33 acres in 2017 to help off-set construction work that affected the environment.

To learn more about WSDOT’s performance or to review “Gray Notebook 69” or its condensed “Lite” version, visit WSDOT’s Accountability website.